SILVER CITY, N.M. – With two home matches on the schedule this weekend, the Western New Mexico University tennis teams will host a pair of RMAC schools on Friday and Saturday, with Saturday being senior day for five Mustangs.
WNMU will open the weekend on Friday at 9 a.m. against MSU Denver and then close the weekend on Saturday also at 9 a.m. against Colorado State University-Pueblo.
On the women's side, MSU Denver is 3-13 overall and 0-2 in RMAC play having been defeated by Colorado Mesa, 2-7, and Montana State-Billings, 4-5. They are 1-5 away from Denver and 1-3 in neutral contests. The Lady Roadrunners have eight players on their roster with two juniors as the only upperclassmen. Courtney Wright leads the team in singles wins with 12, while Wright and Ana-Jelena Vujosevic leads the team in doubles wins with six. WNMU defeated MSU Denver, 9-0, last season in Denver.
The next day against the Lady ThunderWolves they currently hold a 5-7 overall record and 2-0 in the RMAC. They have seven players on their roster with four juniors as upperclassmen. Patricia Maya leads the team in singles wins with 12, while Maya/Brooke Trevithick have eight wins to lead the team in doubles. WNMU defeated CSU-Pueblo twice last year, 6-3, in Pueblo and then in the conference tournament, 5-3.
WNMU is 8-11 overall on the season and 3-0 in the RMAC having defeated MSU-Billings, Colorado Christian and Colorado Mesa this past week. Senior
Ganna Tiurina (Kiev, Ukraine/M.M. Gromov #227) leads the team in singles wins with 11, all coming at the top flight. She also has a team-high seven doubles wins at the top flight with
Annica Betz (Celle, Germany/Kaiserin Auguste Viktoria Gymnasium). Fellow senior
Pauline Emin (Viry, France/Lycee Arbez Carme) adds 10 singles wins, while
Claudia Osuna (Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico/Tec Milenio ) has tallied nine. Emin and Osuna have added four doubles wins at No. 3.
Tiurina has played all four of her collegiate seasons with the Lady Mustangs, as she made an immediate impact in her first season with 12 singles victories and 12 doubles wins. As a sophomore, she came away with 17 singles wins and 14 doubles victories. Last year she added 12 more singles wins and 10 doubles wins. For her career entering this weekend she has 52 singles victories and 43 doubles victories. She has won both the RMAC Player of the Year and Academic Player of the Year in each of the last two seasons and entered this season at the Preseason Player of the Year.
Emin is in her first and only season with the Lady Mustangs after transferring from Grand Canyon.
On the men's side, WNMU will face MSU Denver first on Friday. The Roadrunners are 10-8 overall and 1-1 in the RMAC. MSU Denver beat MSU-Billings, but fell to Colorado Mesa so far in conference play. They have played Colorado Mesa three times this season with the Mavericks going 2-1. The Roadrunners have 10 players on their roster with three seniors and two juniors. Josh Graetz leads the team in singles wins with 16, while Graetz/Nick Baker lead in doubles wins with 14. Last year, WNMU edged MSU Denver, 5-4.
On Saturday, WNMU will face CSU-Pueblo. The ThunderWolves are 5-11 overall and 2-0 in the RMAC. They defeated both Colorado Christian and MSU-Billings. CSU-Pueblo has eight players on their roster with three seniors and a junior. Steven Alcala leads the team in singles victories with 11, while Alcala/Luke Lipinski have the most doubles wins with four. WNMU took a pair of meetings from CSU-Pueblo last year, 5-4 and 5-2 in the conference tournament.
The Mustangs have three seniors in
Juan Pablo Fuentes (Guadalajara, Mexico),
Omar Lopez (Naucalpan, Mexico) and
Alvaro Nunez (Madrid, Spain), as all three have been at WNMU all four years.
Fuentes as a sophomore was named the RMAC Player of the Year. Nunez was second-team that year. Fuentes and Lopez each made lists as freshmen with Fuentes second-team singles and Lopez third-team doubles. Nunez and Lopez have both been on the All-RMAC Academic Teams the past two years. Nunez and Lopez were both on the All-RMAC teams as a junior last year, with Nunez on second-team singles, while landing on first-team doubles and Lopez was selected to third-team doubles.
Fuentes has seven singles wins and six doubles victories. As a junior he tallied four singles wins and seven doubles victories. During his sophomore year he posted 16 victories and 15 doubles. As a freshman he had 12 singles wins and 12 doubles victories. For his career entering this weekend he has 39 singles wins and 50 doubles wins.
Nunez has added eight singles wins and eight doubles wins. As a junior he compiled 10 singles wins and 10 doubles victories. During his sophomore season he added 13 singles wins and 14 doubles wins. In his first year he had nine singles wins and one doubles win. For his career entering this weekend he has 40 singles wins and 33 doubles victories.
Lopez has five singles wins and four doubles wins. As a junior he recorded four singles wins and 12 doubles victories. As a sophomore he came away with three singles wins and seven doubles wins. In his first year he had two singles wins and 11 doubles victories. For his career entering this weekend he has 14 singles wins and 34 doubles victories.
WNMU is 9-9 on the season and 3-0 in the RMAC having defeated MSU-Billings, Colorado Christian and Colorado Mesa this past weekend.
Vladimir Gnilozubov (Kazakhstan, Astana/Kazakhstan) leads in singles wins with 10, while four doubles teams have four wins in
Jean-Laurent Pageault (Perrigny, France/Academi des Hauts de Nimes)/
Pablo Santibanez (Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico/CETYS Universidad), Nunez/Santibanez,
Tristan Da Lio (Casablanca/Academie des Hauts de Nimes)/Gnilozubov and Nunez/Fuentes.
WNMU will play MSU Denver on Friday at 9 a.m. and then against CSU-Pueblo on Saturday at 9 a.m. The Mustangs will celebrate senior day after the matches on Saturday.
